adopt a shrimpwelcome back!

A little shrimp tank you keep. Feed your bit shrimp and watch them grow, draw them doodles, breed them, build glass tube sculptures for them to ride, and send one to a friend with a note. It plays right in your browser, on a phone or a computer: open your tank.

Desk Tank started as a desktop pet, and it's still here: download the app and a shrimp lives on the strip just above your Docktaskbar. Connect it to your tank here and your shrimp come with it.

Yes! Desk Tank is free, and everyone can play. If you love us, you can consider supporting us. We rely on players who support us to keep it running.

No! Open your tank and start playing right away. Save it with your email whenever you like. An account keeps your tank safe and lets you play it on all your devices. You'll need one to sync your tank to the desktop app.

Any up-to-date browser, on a phone or a computer.

The desktop app needs macOS with a visible Dock. It's a universal build, so it runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

The desktop app needs Windows 10 or 11. It's built for ordinary PCs, and runs on Windows 11 on ARM too.

The desktop app needs a Mac (macOS with a visible Dock) or a PC (Windows 10 or 11).

Desk Tank is a little peculiar. Every bit shrimp is a digital life, one entry in a family tree that never stops growing. Its DNA comes from its two parents, and every birth can be replayed to prove it.

Drag one grown-up onto another and they pair. When the eggs are ready you pick one of four babies to keep and name. Your first few clutches hatch in minutes, and after that eggs take eight hours. Babies grow by eating and look like their parents, with the odd surprise. Some are named breeds: see them all in breeds.

A grown-up that hasn't had babies for three days fades up into the ether above your tank. You can bring it back any time.

No, we draw each bit shrimp by hand, and they're painted by a very special genetics system :D

Like most software teams today, we use AI tools to develop the code, but the shrimp, the plants, the fonts and the music are all made by human hands, and will remain that way. The music is A Scattering of Shrimp by Jeanz. We're actually looking for pixel artists: if that's you, say hi!

We take creative work very seriously. If you have any questions about our AI policy, email hello@desktank.app.

In your tank, click or tap to drop a pellet, or hold still and the shrimp swim over to it. Fed shrimp grow.

In the desktop app, move your cursor near the Docktaskbar and it turns into a pellet. Hold still and the shrimp comes to eat, or click to put the pellet down. It gets full for a while after a meal.

Yes! Download the app, connect it to your tank here, and the shrimp you raise and breed come live just above your Docktaskbar too. Use sync with web in the app's settings to bring over your latest changes.

Nothing that identifies you unless you give us your email, and nothing outside Desk Tank. The data we collect is there to make Desk Tank better. For example, the app checks your screen and Docktaskbar size so the shrimp fits, and the website looks at your device type so it offers the right download. Read the privacy page.

Not yet! We're building it in the open, and new things land every week. Some of the best features came from players asking for them. See what's new on the releases page, or join the Discord and r/desktank to help decide what's next.